Laying in Wait for Opportune Moments
by SkyChasingDreamer
Summary: Nothing stresses Hijikata out quite like Sougo. Happy Valentine's Day!


**Title: **Laying in Wait for Opportune Moments

**Pairing: **GinHijiGin

**Rating: **PG13

**Disclaimer: **No

**A/N**: Happy Valentine's Day!

**Laying in Wait for Opportune Moments**

Hijikata woke before his alarm, his internal clock working for him as it usually did. Since his phone wouldn't be going off for at least a few more minutes, he decided to bask in the sleepy warmth surrounding him. He was so comfortable clad in only his boxers with the blanket wrapped tight around him, he almost didn't want to get up, though, he knew he had to.

Something moved next to him and all at once, he was one hundred percent awake. His arm flew out in a natural counterattack and he _nailed _the moving thing with his closed fist of doom.

"Kachaaa!"

"Ow! _Fuck_!"

Hijikata froze and blinked rapidly at his writhing and sputtering boyfriend.

"Oh. Hi."

"Fuck your hi!" Gintoki spat, clutching his jaw and rocking around on his back. "That fucking hurt! What the hell is your problem?"

Hijikata sniffed and ran a hand through his hair. "Forgot you were here."

He didn't feel bad, why would he? Gintoki had hit him plenty of times before, suddenly waking up and railing him, then rolling over to go back to sleep. Shit like that happened, that was just the way things were.

"Bastard," Gintoki was grumbling as he sat up.

"Oh, quit bein' such a pansy."

Gintoki punched his shoulder and flopped back down, rolling over. "It's too fucking early."

"Don't go back to sleep," Hijikata warned through gritted teeth. "You can't stay here today, remember?"

"Mm-hmm..."

Okay, Gintoki was obviously ignoring him. Brow ticking, Hijikata raised an arm, opened his palm, and smacked it down in the center of Gintoki's uncovered back with a loud _slap._

"I said get up!"

Gintoki jerked, letting out a high pitched yelp and Hijikata was getting way too much satisfaction out of the stark red hand print etched in his pale skin.

"The fuck is your problem?" Gintoki snarled, elbowing Hijikata in the gut as he wriggled up.

Hijikata swatted Gintoki away, glaring, and stood, his side stinging. "_You_'re my problem, asshat. Gotta get rid of you before I can start my work. And don't you have a job this morning?"

That seemed to put Gintoki in an even worse mood with the way his frown deepened and his shoulders sagged. "Yeah and it'll take all day."

"Good, you need to work more."

"I work plenty."

Hijikata snorted. "Sure you do. What'll you be doing today that you're so obviously not wanting to? Weeding? Cleaning? Oh, wait, I know! It's flower picking, isn't it?"

Without warning – seriously, there hadn't even been a rustle from the futon – Gintoki's shoulder drove into Hijikata's back, banging him into the closet. Hijikata cussed loudly and regained his footing as Gintoki slid on his black shirt. Pushing and shoving against each other, they got dressed, snarling and doing nothing but getting on each other's nerves.

"When I come back from the bathroom, I want you gone," Hijikata said as Gintoki bumped into him and he shoved the other back.

"Whatever."

"Don't _whatever_ me." Hijikata was on the verge of fed up and grabbed Gintoki roughly by the front of his shirt. "You will sneak out of here unseen, understood?"

Gintoki hit him in the stomach, pushing him away grumbling, "Yeah, yeah, bastard."

"I mean it!"

Gintoki repeated the words back in a mocking tone and Hijikata had officially had enough of the moron. He grabbed his toothbrush and the rest of his typical hygiene things and left in a huff. He was grumbling to himself the whole way, annoyed and really, that idiot had better be gone when he got back or there would be hell to pay! He got the restroom, brushed his teeth with enough force to make his gums bleed and then he washed his face, scrubbing until his skin was tinged red and thus, clean.

Finished, he packed his things back up and returned to his room. He paused outside the door and took a deep breath before pushing his way inside. Gunmetal eyes skittering around the room, which he found empty, bereft of any trace of Gintoki except for a lingering sweet scent. Hijikata would fervently deny the pang of disappointment that went through him as he put his caddy back in his closet. He didn't feel bad for the way things had gone and he definitely didn't feel guilty. Gintoki was an asshole that couldn't take a little teasing because he was stupid.

Jaw set, Hijikata straightened out his clothes and set out for some breakfast, a lit cigarette already dangling from his mouth. He walked through the barracks with a deeper scowl than usual and his temper was on a short fuse. It was early and there was already so much to be done, mainly following up on what they'd spent the whole day before doing. Mind already two steps ahead on where they should start and what they should get done as top priority, he opened the door to the mess hall and found it... empty.

There was about a moment, a short little second where he was confused, but that cleared up fast and was replaced by anger. The bastards were still sleeping! He could _feel _it! He checked his phone and ground his teeth, they should have been awake five minutes ago! Furious, he told the staff in the mess hall to shut everything down. If his subordinates couldn't wake up on time, they sure as hell didn't deserve breakfast.

Stomping back to the sleeping quarters, he procured a megaphone and yelled down the hall, "OI, BASTARDS! YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO GET YOUR ASSES OUT HERE IN UNIFORM OR IT'S SEPPUKU FOR YOU!"

The resounding shouts and thumps were extremely gratifying, but it did little and nothing to help Hijikata's mood. He was irritable and pissed as his men poured out of their rooms, their uniforms unkempt and askew, but on... for the most part. He tossed the megaphone aside and glared at the lineup going down the hall and he knew they knew he was unhappy to the extreme.

"The mess hall is closed," he started off sternly, snarling when he heard a couple groans. "You all know what you should be doing and where you should be, so _get there and start working!"_

They looked like unorganized ants as they ran into each other and hurried about, something that Hijikata took a moment's pleasure in. Only a moment, nothing more, he didn't have time for that.

"Harada!" In a blink, Harada was in front of him, stiff backed and looking scared for his life. Good, all was as it should be in that regard. "Pick out nine others and start a patrol. Five circle east and the other five circle west, be back before noon."

With a hasty salute, Harada got the fuck out of there and Hijikata left the sleeping quarters to go to the main board room, lighting another cigarette on his way. It was big, had a large table, and papers were everywhere. Maps with different markings on them, detailed reports and descriptions about targets, locations for possible raids, and it was not at all where Hijikata wanted to be. It was important, of course it was, but he wanted to be out and about where he could do something. Not stuck inside a room full of information he'd already gone over enough times to commit most of it to memory. There was nothing new, either, they hadn't made much headway the day before, but Hijikata was determined to turn that around.

Going over to the table, he picked up a specific report and glanced over it. All the information was about a man they currently had round the clock surveillance on. Yamazaki and two others had taken the night watch since Hijikata did need to sleep and it was a simple job. Those three should be back once their daytime replacements went and Hijikata was expecting that to go on without a hitch. Most of his crew already knew their assignments, they just needed to be _awake_ to follow through with them.

Sitting down behind the table, Hijikata organized some maps and threw out ones that were no longer of use. He sorted the reports into two piles, ones that needed to be redone and ones that were fine. His irritation only rose when the redo pile steadily grew bigger than the finished pile. Paperwork only added to his ire and nearly an hour into it – and several cigarettes later – he was ready to snap something in half.

"Fukuchou...?" Yamazaki said hesitantly from just outside the door.

"What?!"

"Uhh, well, w-we lost the..."

"If you say you lost the lead so help me I will skewer you."

Yamazaki visibly floundered and scrambled, hands wringing in front of him. "T-then we haven't l-lost him..." He trailed off and Hijikata waited a second before squinting menacingly. Yamazaki jolted in place and quickly finished, "We just d-don't know where he is."

Hijikata's roar of frustration was loud and powerful it sent Yamazaki scampering away for his life. But Hijikata couldn't just let him go, so he vaulted up to grab the back of Yamazaki's shirt and dragged him back against his will. Hijikata issued a set of orders to his subordinate, Yamazaki nodding readily the whole time with a thick sweat on his brow and hands raised in placation. That done, Hijikata snarled orders to the rest of the faction that were around to hear, idiots who were just standing around like they didn't know nothing about any goddamn thing. He needed them to get their shit together and get to work, dammit!

Last, once everyone was finally doing something productive, he turned his attention to something he really didn't want to deal with, but knew he had to: Sougo. None of this would have been an issue if only Sougo had been doing his job, but of course the little slacker was nowhere to be found. The paperwork would have to wait, which was annoying because there was so much of it, and he'd have to reconfigure his whole day, taking into consideration that finding Sougo wouldn't be easy.

From there, everything that could have gone wrong _did _and it was just one clusterfuck after another. The short fuse of Hijikata's temper got shorter and shorter to the point where he was just yelling at people for existing. They couldn't find their man, they'd lost an arrest because the culprit had gone out of their jurisdiction, Sougo was still missing in action, and at one point a stack of paperwork caught on fire and he had no idea how that one had happened. Yamazaki had 'saved' it by putting the fire out with anpan, but that only made things messy and gross. So Hijikata got to spend hours of his time trying to figure out what information had been lost and what they still had and what they needed and he couldn't catch a fucking break!

At one point he'd wondered what Kondo was up to, but shortly after the thought he'd watched his Commander streak bare ass naked across the training yard yelling about the power of youth and telling people to call him Lee and no, Hijikata wasn't touching that disaster and identity crisis with a ten foot pole. He left it be and went back to work, doing double time to make up for everything he was losing because of the universe being against him. Everything was go, go, _go _and it sucked Sougo wasn't around because he _really_ wanted to beat something up.

"Fukuchou –"

"Did you find our lead yet?" Hijikata interrupted, sword, still sheathed, pointed at Yamazaki's face.

"N-no, but someone spotted the Captain –"

"Where is he?" Hijikata demanded, putting his sword back in its place and grabbing Yamazaki by the front of his clothes. "Tell me! Where is that rat bastard, haaah?"

"D-dango," Yamazaki gasped out, "in Ka—Kabukichou –"

Hijikata didn't need to hear anymore. He shoved Yamazaki away, commanding him to salvage as many of the burnt pages as possible. He stormed out of the barracks, a fresh cigarette in his mouth, and a dark intent swirling around his body. He was pissed and furious and Sougo was going to be the perfect punching bag. Had he been doing his job, their lead never would have gotten away. Maybe it was his own fault, though... trusting Sougo with overseeing the night watch, he wasn't going to make that mistake again! Trust Sougo, there was no such thing!

He practically flew to Kabukichou, he knew exactly what dango place to beeline for, and finally! He finally found the stupid bastard! And he was... sitting opposite Gintoki... could this day get any _worse_? Hijikata's brow ticked furiously and his palms balled up at his side, his right one itching to hold the hilt of his sword, but he was fairly certain that if he did, he'd draw and lop off Sougo's stupid smug face.

"Sougo!" he yelled, baring his teeth.

Sougo looked up and smiled, even giving a little wave. "I thought I heard Godzilla, hello, Hijikata-san."

"Where have you been?" Hijikata growled.

"Hmmm," Sougo hummed, looking up to the sky as he nibbled on some dango. "Here and there, mostly."

Spitting out his cigarette, Hijikata used his heel to put it out before grabbing Sougo's forearm and pulling him to his feet. "Because of you we lost our lead, so you sure as shit better go find him."

"But I'm not done talking to danna," Sougo replied innocently. "It's rude to interrupt, Vice-Commander-san."

Unable to help himself, Hijikata's glaring gaze flicked to where Gintoki sat staring and slowly chewing his dango. It was just a short look, then he was glaring right back at Sougo, lip curling slightly.

"No, I think you're done gossiping."

"You're both so agitated," Sougo was saying like Hijikata hadn't spoken. And suddenly, Hijikata was being pulled, it wasn't him gripping Sougo anymore, but Sougo gripping him and when had that happened? Then Sougo's left hand was on the back of Hijikata's head, his right one reached out to Gintoki, and they shared a look of confusion while Sougo just smiled, eyes turned up into happy little 'u' shape. "Now, _kiss,_" Sougo hissed just before smashing their faces together.

It wasn't a kiss, not if the cracking knock of their skulls and teeth could be considered a kiss. Their lips probably brushed somewhere in there, but it was hard to tell for sure through the pain. Sougo released them and they fell to the ground, both of them groaning and holding their faces.

"You're welcome," Sougo said cheerily as he started off.

"Oi!" Hijikata called after him, sitting up in the dirt – he could taste blood from perhaps a split lip. "Get back here!"

"Can't!" Sougo called back over his shoulder. "I've got work to do. Bye, danna!"

Gintoki, having fallen of his seat, also sat up and flicked Sougo off, his other hand rubbing at his face still. There weren't many people around, but the few that were had started to stare, making Hijikata uncomfortable. Gintoki must have picked up on that because he was the first to stand and after a brief hesitation, offered Hijikata a hand.

"Bad day?"

Hijikata snorted and took the hand. "Something like that. You?"

"I wouldn't say bad," Gintoki replied with a sigh as he began brushing dirt off himself. "But I wouldn't say good, either."

Hijikata did the same and though he was still rather pissed, he wasn't exactly in the biggest hurry like he had most of the day. He absently tongued the cut he could feel on the inside of his bottom lip where he must have accidentally bitten him and he could hear Gintoki whining next to him about his own lip. It was well into the afternoon and he hadn't gotten his lunch yet, and for the first time, he entertained the idea that maybe he'd feel a little better if he ate something. He watched Gintoki out of the corner of his eye, just looking, and he frowned a little when he saw some tiny scrapes along his arms and hands.

"What'd you do?" he asked as casually as possible, pretending disinterest, like he was just asking as a good officer protecting his people.

"Excavation," Gintoki replied absently.

"So... not picking flowers today?"

A smirk slowly spread over Gintoki's face and he shook his head. "No, not today. Maybe next time and I'll be able to make you a nice bouquet to hide your nasty face."

Hijikata damned the blush that roared into his cheeks and hastily reached out to yank on Gintoki's ear. "At least my face isn't bruised!"

"A-tut-tut! Whose fault do you think it is that mine is, hah?" Gintoki asked, still smirking as he twisted out of Hijikata's reach.

"Your own," Hijikata retorted, amused watching Gintoki grumble while rubbing his offended ear. He frowned a little though and tilted his head to the right. "Isn't excavation dangerous?"

"To anyone but me, yeah."

Well, that explained the scrapes and smudges on his yukata and shit. Running a hand through his hair, Hijikata took a breath and realized that he was more relaxed than he'd been all fucking day. The pressing need to not stop for a single damn thing, though still there, was tempered down and he wasn't nearly so pissed off. He knew what was waiting for him back at the barracks, but now it all didn't seem so daunting and the headache he'd felt building was put off, hardly a thrum at the back of his head.

"I should get back to work," he said, a little confused by the sudden flip of his own feelings.

"Yeah, me too. I'm only supposed to get a half hour for lunch," Gintoki replied, slightly mellow. After a short pause where they both shifted awkwardly, Gintoki reached out and tugged lightly on Hijikata's sleeve. "Ah, come here..."

It was almost tentative, not quite, but _almost_ and that was enough for Hijikata to decide to go along with it. He had an idea what was coming and the sheer amount of _want_ that speared through him should have been alarming, but he wanted it too much to care. He followed along beside Gintoki a few shops down until he was covertly led between an empty house that was for sale and a place selling auto parts. There was a set of stairs on the right leading up and it was underneath that that Hijikata found himself being pushed and pinned, a soft pair of lips touching his.

Open mouthed and languid, Gintoki pressed Hijikata back into the wall, their bodies lined up at every possible point. It was definitely a proper kiss, their lips moving seamlessly together, Gintoki's teeth nibbling on Hijikata's bottom lip. Hijikata's hands slid up Gintoki's shoulders, then slowly wrapped around his neck, holding them even closer. Hijikata closed his eyes and poured his shitty day, his frustrations, whatever was weighing him down into it by biting flesh, then soothing it over with his tongue. And no matter what he did, Gintoki met him equally, giving him what he asked for and taking from him all he had to give – and that struck something deep inside Hijikata. He felt a headier flush enter his face, but he couldn't care when he was feeling so good. It was only when he felt a wandering hand go down to cup an ass cheek that he snagged a fistful of Gintoki's hair and gave it a sharp yank.

"Ah, ah, ah," he tsk-ed, Gintoki's playful little smirk making his stomach flip and roll. "Definitely don't have time for that."

"Don't have time for what?" Gintoki asked, kissing along Hijikata's jaw and neck.

"You _know _what," Hijikata chided, snorting when Gintoki's other hand touched his ass and gave it a squeeze. And _damn_ the instant arousal that was shooting through Hijikata from toes to fingertips. "Work now, play later."

Gintoki raised his head and Hijikata wasn't exactly loath to indulge in a few more kisses, their lips smacking deliciously with each one. He had to keep a grip on both Gintoki's hands and of course the bastard used that to his advantage. Gintoki laced their fingers and brought their conjoined hands up over Hijikata's head, pinning them against the wall. Hijikata moaned softly into Gintoki's mouth as the other's body pressed into his own, so firm and warm and so fucking _strong_. He could feel the strength emanating from his lover, all chiseled abs and hard muscle which could be felt even through clothes. Another wave of arousal crashed into him and he opened his mouth for a deeper kiss. Gintoki kissed him exactly the way he wanted, sloppy, hasty, elongated, teeth nipping, and there was that faint trace of sweet mixed in with musk that had Hijikata's toes curling in his shoes. His body arched into Gintoki's, wanting to feel more, wanting clothes out of the way, wanting to really feel his boyfriend against him and –

"Woah, that's so gay..."

Every ounce of blood in Hijikata's body turned to ice just as his skin heated up in a furiously huge blush that probably encompassed his whole body. He snapped his head to the left and there was Sougo sitting on the stairs, his back against the wall, watching them through the spaces between the steps. Hijikata's mouth opened in horror and then he was embarrassed, angry, ready to fucking _destroy!_

"Y-you – you're _dead!_" Hijikata yelled, pushing Gintoki away and going for his sword.

With a Cheshire cat grin, Sougo took off and Hijikata was right on his heels, murder on his mind and a sputtering boyfriend in his wake.

**The End**


End file.
